St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-25
SAUCE FOR The TURKEY.

SAUCE FOR The TURKEY.
The Jerseyman Who First Cultivated
Cranberries, the Side Partner of
the Juicy Old Bird.
His Neighbors Laughed at Him at First
and Then Turned Around and
Initiated Him.
The Chief Cranberry Regions How the
Boys Are Managed Trouble
With the Pickers.
~ Ma 1877 paratively
~ Q@@JNSYS S4SE~%Y few lovers of
M, ~E2z Gran berry
NSEY ~ /MlES sauce is it
NTbE<N&S EaOI known tn a t
1Ip2STEM &Nc cultivation of
HlSFHfEXk 800 the little red
CNNCSsX ESSM 40 berry from
i; :: i: :: s; s: !: !; !:
NsNt@I 1851, VII II
GS6$SA the pOSSiblI-
oAH NMJ ties of the
ENl6SA berry
Fh bush were ac-
cidentally
discovered by
John Webb.
at Forked River, Ocean county, \. j.,
says the New York Mail and Express.
Before that the supply of cranberries
came from the wild bushes in the
Swamps of that state and Cape Cod,
just as the huckleberry crop Is obtained
to-day. Not more than One-tenth OF the
quantity OF cranberrieS that are now
sent to market was put on sale when
John Webb began his experiments in
1857, and the price was so high that
only the wealthy could enjoy cranberry
sauce with their turkey. Webb went
TO Ocean county many years ago. lie
had only one leg, and for years he made
living by picking cranberrieS in the
marshes in the fall and doing
odd jobs of farm work. While
picking berries on a small piece
of low swamp land which he had
in some way obtained possession of i'll
1857. he noticed that in places where
sand had been washed by rains from the
high ground Oh the edge of the swamp.
and carried down upon the peat bottom
of the marsh, the plants grew more
luXuriantly and the berries were larger,
of better flavor and more plentiful. He
came to the conclusion that if a few
isolated patches could be so vastly i'm
proved by the accidental mingling Of two
kinds of soil, an entire bog could be
made highly productive by systematic
treatment of the same kind. Acting on
his belief, the next season he made the
first known cultivated cranberry bog.
He pulled the stnmps and other foreign
substances out of his small swamp,
made its peaty bottom smooth and level,
and over it spread a covering Of sand
three inches deep. He cut his marsh
up into a number of Oblong beds by
means of bitches at right angles
with one another. Webb'S neigh
bOrs watched him at work on
his bog, and the universal verdict was
that the man was crazy. He was work
ing with no precedent to guide him, but
he was an ObServant and persistent man,
and the result of his work was that in
three years ne ndd DeduJl1ul marsh OF
luXuriant and well-trained bushes, bear
ing Snch burden of cranberrieS, not
only in size but quantity, as had never
been seen or heard of before. The re-
suit of One-legged John Webb's expert
ment in cultivating cranberries soon be-
came known, and his fame spread from
the remOteSt cranberry marsh on Cape
Cod to the wild boys of Wisconsin. and
his name is now a household word
wherever cranberrieS are grown. This
pioneer cultivatOr of cranberrieS is to-
day one of the richest men in Southern
Jersey. and all his wealth came to him
through the discovery he made thirty
years ago of the efficacy of sand i'll soil
where the cranberry is indigenous.
There are between 5000 and 5000
acres Of New Jersey marsh under cram
berry cultiVafir., - -',,- which is about